Roxburgh, New Zealand

Roxburgh, is a small New Zealand town of about 600 people in Central Otago. It is in Teviot Valley on the banks of the Clutha River, 40 km south of Alexandra in the South Island. State Highway 8, which links Central Otago with Dunedin city, passes through the town. Roxburgh is well known for its Roxdale fruit and "Jimmy's Pies."An important centre during the Central Otago goldrush of the 1860s, in more recent times Roxburgh has relied on a mixture of livestock and stone fruit production for its economic survival. It is one of the country's most important apple growing regions and other stone fruit such as cherries and apricots are also harvested locally.Five kilometres to the north of the town is the Roxburgh Dam, the earliest of the major hydroelectric dams built on the Clutha. There is also an opencast lignite mine located just north of town at Coal Creek.EtymologyThe name of the town comes from Roxburghshire in Scotland and was after the first European settlers arrived in the area. Originally the town was sometimes called Teviot but this name is instead now used for places such as the Teviot Valley and the Teviot River.